The Jaffe Briefing - February 20, 2018

By JAFFE COMMUNICATIONS

February 20, 2018 at 3:50 PM

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By JAFFE COMMUNICATIONS

February 20, 2018 at 3:50 PM

OUR TAKE ON THE NEWS IN NEW JERSEY

STATEWIDE - Jittery parents are sending their jittery kids to jittery schools this morning, as classes resume after a President's Day weekend filled with wall-to-wall news coverage about gun safety. School districts statewide have been reporting threats - all thankfully not credible - as district leaders are on the highest alert. East Brunswick, for one, is taking this ongoing threat to the next level, stationing armed guards in all its schools. Meanwhile, nationwide student protests are planned for March 14. There's been way too much punditry on this already; now is the time for the White House to offer its sensible, smart solution. And. Now. We. Wait.

TRENTON - Not only is being governor a full-time job, but, if you happen not to be running for President, it requires around-the-clock babysitting of New Jersey. So, do we pay our head honcho fairly? NJ.com reports the $175,000 paycheck isn't outrageous, tied for seventh place among the Top 25 highest paid governors in the nation. For Gov. Phil Murphy, his salary is basically a wash with the $200,000 or so in annual property taxes he pays on his $9.6 million Middletown palace. Perhaps we can boldly say we have the only chief executive in the nation who loses money by working here.

TRENTON - Need a judge? Get in line. There will soon be five judicial vacancies on New Jersey's federal court in a judicial district that needs 17 active judges. So far, President Trump hasn't exactly gotten around to filling any of those vacancies, as we can assume any lawyer that Trump knows is probably working on his latest barrage of gag orders. NJ.com reports that our judicial district is desperate for judges, as the number of cases grew from 9,674 to more than 13,800 filings because of the state's pharma and tech industries. Want justice in Jersey? Call my cousin, Vinny.

MILLBURN - In 2016, this Essex County community took in $1.6 million in prepayments for property taxes. Last year, that number jumped to $39 million. Hmmm. Of no surprise, residents of this highly-taxed town flocked to the tax office by the end of 2017, eager to pre-pay taxes and try to keep glorious tax deductions going for another year. Another fancy stat, courtesy of NJ.com: there were 1,982 Millburn taxpayers lining up to pre-pay by the end of December, compared to just 178 residents in the preceding year. For a fancy town where taxes average $23,327, hey, whatever it takes.

PATERSON - The sun still rises in the east, and authorities are issuing subpoenas at Paterson City Hall, so it is a pretty typical day in New Jersey. The state Attorney General's Office is back in Paterson, asking for more municipal records and not saying why, the Paterson Press reports. Subpoenas and search warrants have been issued more than six times in the last 16 months. With ongoing raids, state and federal authorities now have strong opinions on where to get the best coffee on Market Street.

IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS

XIAMEN, China - "Buy me!" "Buy me!" Those may have been the final words of a fish who flew out of a tank at a Chinese supermarket and landed in the shopping cart of surprised customer and her kid. The video shows a man attempting to use a net to catch a speedy fish. The fish - not koi about its intentions - jumped out of the tank, fell through the cart and landed on the floor, prompting a supermarket worker to sprint over and try to wrestle the fish back in the tank. No halibut about it.

ACROSS THE POND - KFC is coping with an incredible fowl-up: Running out of chicken. Finger-lickin' fans are yelling "What the cluck?," after 900 restaurants in Ireland and England were forced to close. A chicken crossed the road, just not to these KFC franchises, who are blaming delivery errors. Ok, let's keep the puns going: This news is for the birds. Expect the colonel to be demoted to corporal. Scratch KFC off my bucket list. Etc., etc.. etc.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

It was this day in 2014 that the banking industry got loud, complaining that "non-banking companies" like Apple and Google are intentionally gobbling up banking business through their own payment methods and financial products.

"Yep," replied Steve Jobs, from somewhere.

WORD OF THE DAY

Bossdom - [BAWS-duhm] - noun

Definition: The status, influence or power of a boss, especially a powerful one

Example: See that diner booth all the way in the back? Yeah, that one. That's reserved for the bossdom. Stay away.

WEATHER IN A WORD

Shorts

Editor's Note: Jaffe Communications is the franchisee/publisher of TAPinto New Brunswick.

The opinions expressed herein are the writer's alone, and do not reflect the opinions of TAPinto.net or anyone who works for TAPinto.net. TAPinto.net is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the writer.

TRENTON - Even with a joint committee on legalizing cannabis in New Jersey, it looks increasingly doubtful that there will be a vote in 2018. It really seemed like recreational marijuana would have been legalized this fall, but there's a lot of smoke hanging arond. How should the state tax the drug? And how should a "cannabis commission" be established to oversee all the fun? This morning, a ...

TRENTON - Even with a joint committee on legalizing cannabis in New Jersey, it looks increasingly ...

JERSEY CITY - For some, the chronic traffic at the Holland Tunnel is not what's really ticking them off these days. Rather, they are infuriated with the holiday décor. Someone at the Port Authority decided to stick a triangular tree over the letter "N" instead of "A" - and made the crossing a "TONNEL" by putting a wreath over the "U," the New York Post reports. One commuter is circulating a ...

JERSEY CITY - For some, the chronic traffic at the Holland Tunnel is not what's really ticking them ...

MENDHAM - Not too long ago, the job of White House Chief of Staff was highly-coveted and well-respected for its massive influence within the Beltway. Now, it's the place you go to kill your career. There is a big "Help Wanted" sign hanging on the door knob at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., likely scrawled in crayon, and it looks like our very own former Gov. Chris Christie is once again polishing his ...

MENDHAM - Not too long ago, the job of White House Chief of Staff was highly-coveted and ...

ON THE ROADS - Well, duh. A new report shows that North Dakota is the top state in the nation when it comes to driving. Well, of course. No one lives there. You can speed for miles and miles and not see a soul. And other great states to drive in? Well, duh, again. Those "top states," according to the 2018 Bankrate Best States for Drivers Study, include such wide open places as Iowa, Ohio, ...

ON THE ROADS - Well, duh. A new report shows that North Dakota is the top state in the nation when ...

PRINCETON - If you add up all the brain power at Princeton University, it could figure a way to teach trigonometry to a flea. Yet the university has been struggling with all the bicycle thefts around the leafy campus. NJ.comreports the latest effort is for police to create "bait bikes." They are equipped with GPS devices so cops can track them and hopefully find the culprits in the process. The ...

PRINCETON - If you add up all the brain power at Princeton University, it could figure a way to ...

STATEWIDE - Does New Jersey hate Christmas? Of course not, but that's not stopping one of those clickbait online survey companies from ranking the state 47thout of the 50 states in our level of bah humbug. This "source," called GetCenturyLink, was even nice enough to slap New Jersey with a Grinch sticker, reserved for the 10 least-merry states in the nation. The rankings were apparently based on ...

STATEWIDE - Does New Jersey hate Christmas? Of course not, but that's not stopping one of those ...

PRINCETON - Princeton's all-male acappella group, the Tigertones, is apparently off-key in this era of #MeToo. And that's why it is no longer performing the song "Kiss The Girl" from Disney's "The Little Mermaid." You may recall that Prince Eric sang the song in the 1989 cartoon, when Ariel's voice has been taken away, making her unable to grant verbal consent for a kiss. A Princeton student ...

THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL - When political scientists look back at the 2018 midterm elections, it will be impossible to ignore the suburban moms who helped turn the tide in the 7th and 11th Congressional districts. These highly-educated and highly-engaged women were stunned over the election of President Trump in 2016, and used their talents to create highly-effective, on-the-ground organizations. This ...

THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL - When political scientists look back at the 2018 midterm elections, it will be ...

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL - As all sights are set on "Trump 2020," political factions are dealing with a new normal: a truly engaged electorate. State officials will be making the results of last month's election "official" in New Jersey today, showing the largest voter turnout in a Congressional midterm since 1982, NJ 101.5 reports. Get this: 56 percent of registered voters actually voted. And if ...

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL - As all sights are set on "Trump 2020," political factions are dealing with ...

STATEWIDE - Technically speaking, it's called the "New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory and Expungement Aid Modernization Act." Not exactly the sexiest name in the history of state law, but New Jersey's potheads are unfazed. That's because this 147-page document, to be debated today in Trenton, is the very first official step in the year-long effort to legalize recreational marijuana in the great ...